The word was out! The weather was perfect after a cold snap, so the invitation was sent to about 40 club members. This last minute trip had potential, but you had to go…. NOW!!!
Only four of us made it to the launch point by 0830. We were all launched, and on the water by 9 o’clock. The first fish came to hand less than 10 minutes after launching. We continued to catch fish the entire time we were on the water.
The flies that worked were Clousers, (black and chartreuse/white), simple shads (blue/white), and jerk-me bendbacks (all white). Fish were caught on full-sink lines as well as floating lines with sinking leaders. The trick seemed to be, “get the fly down to the fish.”
This fish size ranged from 14-22” with most in the 16-18 range. A total of 44 speckled trout came to hand, with a few more “long line releases.”
1230, end time. That’s when we had an equipment failure and had to go to shore.
We highly recommend this trip in the middle of the week, as the boats and Bubba take over the entire area on the weekends, even in the winter time. We did have some boat traffic while we were fishing, with the wakes of some of the boats forcing us to stop fishing and hug the shoreline a few times.
From JE: ”My next cold water trip will have my jet boil, a space blanket, and an extra warm jacket etc. in a dry bag. I always had cold weather survival gear on Ak trips in case someone got wet and it was far away from the dock. And I used it a couple times. If we were an hour or more from the dock we would have had to approach differently. One boat should have the above gear.”
Lessons learned:
- Equipment check a few days before the trip
- If something is not working correctly, don’t take a chance
- Don’t tie anything around the bladder of an inflatable life jacket
- It takes longer to clean up after a saltwater trip than fresh water
- Extra clothes on the watercraft with you can be a life saver, especially in the winter
- Emergency whistle is a great back-up to “normal” radio comunications
- Waterproof cameras need to float
- Zip-lock(R) bags are a cheap waterproof for wallets, and phones
Looks like fun – except the cold.
Sounds like a great trip. Hope all of you are doing well. We have nothing but cold water trips here in Ireland🤣🤣 alex
Have you noticed just how “down-low” we are keeping the launch point and fishing locations? Trying the same location on 2024-02-01 at 0830. Contact “Puck” for details.